I have some experience doing various samatha and other concentrative meditation practices (koan, huatou), have gotten some interesting results doing these and my concentration is probably pretty good. Lately tho i have been feeling that i wanted to expand my meditative horizons. So today i tried some anapanasati with instructions i got from two youtube videos by Bhante Vimalaramsi. A method that he says is directly from the suttas rather than from commentary or particular tradition.
I have to say that just on one sit using this method i feel i got some good results.

My questions are:

1. Anyone else here with similar experience to mine, that is, coming from huatou or koan practice or other samatha practice to the method above? Any advice?

2. What is the consensus on Bhante Vimalaramsi anapanasati methods as compared to others?

Thank you

“The truth knocks on the door and you say, "Go away, I'm looking for the truth," and so it goes away. Puzzling.” ― Robert M. Pirsig

Moggalana wrote:
Yes, mostly. But there are also some critics. As always. http://www.greatwesternvehicle.org/crit ... itique.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; This critic might be biased, however. But I don't know these people. See and think for yourself

Hello Moggalana

I don't know if you're aware, but the link you provided is from Jhanananda. Jhanananda is a self ordained person called Jeffrey Brooks, and thus is in the Sangha by theft. His criticisms of Bhante Vimalaramsi are unreliable.

Metta

"He turns his mind away from those phenomena and, having done so, inclines his mind to the property of deathlessness: 'This is peace, this is exquisite — the resolution of all fabrications; the relinquishment of all acquisitions; the ending of craving; dispassion; cessation; Unbinding.' " - Jhana Sutta

Moggalana wrote:
Yes, mostly. But there are also some critics. As always. http://www.greatwesternvehicle.org/crit ... itique.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; This critic might be biased, however. But I don't know these people. See and think for yourself

Hello Moggalana

I don't know if you're aware, but the link you provided is from Jhanananda. Jhanananda is a self ordained person called Jeffrey Brooks, and thus is in the Sangha by theft. His criticisms of Bhante Vimalaramsi are unreliable.

Metta

Hi,

I didn't know this, but after reading on this site, I became suspicious. That's why I added the bit with the bias. Thanks for letting me know However, I have also read a similar critique of Bhante Vimalaramsi on a german blog. Some people seem to find his approach a bit dogmatic. But the same goes for Ajahn Brahm and others. It's probably more a matter of "my teacher is better than yours". There are many ways, and if you can learn something from him, that's good.

Just wanted to thank everyone for their input. On the subject of Jeffery Brooks, it seems to me from reading some of his stuff and belonging to his mailing list for a while, that he and his followers are more interested in pursuing extreme mental states than anything else.

“The truth knocks on the door and you say, "Go away, I'm looking for the truth," and so it goes away. Puzzling.” ― Robert M. Pirsig

I'm running out of steam with anapanasati. I have gone back to huatou practice which seems alot more robust to me. This tells me that im probably doing something wrong with anapanasati.

Using a huatou as a method i feel i get pretty powerfully concentrated. With the huatou, there is no real tactile object thats the subject of concentration.

With anapanasati, i waffle around a bit, i think because there is so much tactile input involved. I would still like to investigate anapanasati, but unless i can find a way to narrow the tactile input and field of concentration, i fear my experience with huatou wont translate that well to anapanasati. Anyone have advice on narrowing the field of concentration in anapanasati and still remain true to the method as outlined in the suttas?

“The truth knocks on the door and you say, "Go away, I'm looking for the truth," and so it goes away. Puzzling.” ― Robert M. Pirsig

m0rl0ck wrote:Anyone have advice on narrowing the field of concentration in anapanasati and still remain true to the method as outlined in the suttas?

I have no clue what huatou is. Where are you watching the breath? Nostrils? Chest? Abdomen? In my own experience watching the breath at the nose tip has produced the best results and is good for "narrowing" the field of experience.

Last edited by bodom on Sun Apr 18, 2010 5:58 pm, edited 1 time in total.

To study is to know the texts,
To practice is to know your defilements,
To attain the goal is to know and let go.

- Ajahn Lee Dhammadharo

With no struggling, no thinking,
the mind, still,
will see cause and effect
vanishing in the Void.
Attached to nothing, letting go:
Know that this is the way
to allay all stress.

It sounds like to me that, and I could be wrong, since you're talking about a large amount of tactile input, that you've been doing anapanasati as a method to develop mindfulness of the body. Using anapanasati to develop the 4 frames of reference is something that I think works very nicely.

How far do you waffle, though? I think a little wiggling is inevitable because of all the things that you're trying to keep in focus, but as long as the wiggling takes place within the confines of where you want the mind to be, then I don't think it's a problem. If you waffle completely off subject, then, that's just a matter of practice, I'm afraid.

A huatou is a question one asks oneself, similar to a koan. Im using the "not locating the breath any particular place" method.
Maybe i will try the nostril method. I rejected that at first because it seemed artificial and not in line with the suttas.
My focus usually goes to the sensation of the air going in and out of the nose, but the pauses between in and out breath are there. Its alot tricker than i would have first thought, not really an object with constancy, even tho its a tactile sensation unlike a huatou, which in practice seems to resolve itself to a subverbal constant.

“The truth knocks on the door and you say, "Go away, I'm looking for the truth," and so it goes away. Puzzling.” ― Robert M. Pirsig